Day of Unrest

Why is it that the one day a week that is supposed to be quiet, restful, spiritual, etc. always seems the most chaotic?  It doesn't matter what time I get up in the morning on Sundays lately, we are always a few minutes late.  We would have been on time today but Lucy started screaming when we were getting her dressed and I had to stop and nurse her to get her calmed down.  Then, in the middle of sacrament meeting, Lucy had a blow out.  It not only COVERED her cute dress, it got all over her blanket and Jeremy.  So I whisked her away to the mothers' room and changed her into the spare onesie from her diaper bag.  Jeremy wiped up as best as he could.  He figured it didn't matter too much if he smelled like poop since he was going to be in the nursery with poopy kids anyway.  Third hour was a mess since I was the only presidency member there today.  The Laurels were meeting with RS, so I was trying to make sure YW opening exercises went smoothly while making sure the Laurels all got to RS, all while Lucy was crying because she was hungry.  Fed Lucy, went back to RS with the Laurels and not THREE minutes later Lucy pooped again.  Seriously?!  So I got up again, changed her again, and went back to RS again.  Ten minutes later she was crying again so I took her out to the hallway where we stayed for the rest of church.

It was one of those "why did I bother to come?" Sundays...except for those few minutes I got to be in RS.  The lesson was on "Being Anxiously Engaged".  They were talking about service and how we should serve willingly and with a happy heart, but that sometimes we try to do too much and that just becomes overwhelming and causes stress, and then we have negative attitudes about it.  Someone mentioned how we have times and seasons for things.  This is something I have really struggled with lately.  YW is very time demanding.  Along with Sundays and Wednesdays, it seems there is always a fireside, or dance, or camp meeting, or temple trip, or something.  All that would be fine if I didn't have three small kids and work full time.  It is very hard for me to try and balance church and home and not feel bad for giving one more time than the other.  I know this is why we have more than one member in the presidency, but I put a lot of pressure on myself to do everything.  And I always feel like if I don't do something people will look at me like I am a horrible leader.

The lesson was a great reminder for me that right now my time and season is having small children.  We do not take couples vacations without the girls, I don't go to movies because I don't want to take Lucy in there (ok, that's not much of a sacrifice- I hate going to the movies), and we always put the girls' needs and wants over our own (I really need a haircut but can't seem to find the time to get one).  What has been hard for me is to realize this applies to my calling as well.  I had been having major anxiety about what to do with Lucy during girls' camp.  She is pretty clingy to me right now, and we haven't even tried her with a bottle yet.  When we found out Jeremy has to go out of town that same week it was kind of an answer to my prayers because the decision was made for us.  I just can't go.  As much as I would like to be there for the YW it just isn't going to happen.  And that's ok.  Maybe later in life, in another time and season, I will have another opportunity to go.  Anyway, just something I've been thinking about a lot lately and I was so appreciative and grateful for the reminder today.

Funnies

A couple funny things Shelby has said lately:

-The other day we were at the store and Shelby asked, "Can we get some Chef don't juuuddgge?". Confused, I made her repeat it several times and then finally turned to Jeremy and told him I had no idea what she was talking about. She repeated it again and he said, "Ohhhh, it's from that Chef Boyardee commercial. The kid is dancing then looks at the can and it says, 'Chef don't juuuddgge'."

-Shelby asked where Jeremy was tonight and I told her he was at a concert. She asked if it was for the people in the "blue house". I said, "Blue house? Huh? No, they don't live in a blue house." Just then I realized she had heard us talking about House of Blues before and thought we meant that these musicians lived in a blue house.

K is for Kindergarten

I had no doubts Shelby would love Kindergarten and do well.  She loves her class and her teacher.  She is usually excited to wake up each day and get to school.  She is reading beyond the expected level and is just learning so much each day.  She was tested for and accepted into the Gifted and Talented program, and we are excited about her being challenged there.  She isn't just smart, though.  On Friday she received a Star Student Award, which is given for compassion and good citizenship.  We are so proud of you, Shelby! Keep up the good work!

Second from left

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday to our sweet Joey Frances!  Joey is such a fun three year old.  She loves princesses and superheroes, nail polish and dirt.  She keeps us laughing with the things she says and the way she says them.  For example: gymnastics is "binastics", and leotard is "bitark".  When she and Shelby jump rope she sings, "Bubble gum, bubble gum in a dish.  How many pay-ses do you have?".  It cracks us up the way she says "pieces" with such a country accent, and that no matter how many times we tell her she says "have" instead of "wish".  Joey is very stubborn but very loving.  She loves to give kisses- to everything.  Including most inanimate objects.  Joey desperately wants to go to school, so we may put her in the three year old preschool class in the Fall, but I don't know if I want to give up that time with her!

We waited to give her our present til today.  She loved her new Merida (she calls her Merica) dress and doll.

 

 

Joey loved being sung to this year!

 

Since we had cupcakes yesterday I made cupcake flavored rice krispy treats today.

Big Day

We are exhausted.  What a day!  Jeremy and Shelby woke up extra early this morning to run in her school's Mustang Mad Dash.  Shelby and Jeremy ran the 1 mile together.  Jeremy said Shelby did great.  She stopped running for about 5 steps then picked it back up and ran again.  I was so proud to see them come around the corner together and cross the finish line.  Shelby was so excited to get her ribbon.  After that Jeremy ran the 5k.  I am so proud of him for running.  I am making it a priority to get to the neurologist soon so I can get the migraines under control so maybe we can run a few races together.

After the Mad Dash we raced home to finish getting ready for Joey's 3rd birthday party.  Joey has been telling us for MONTHS that she wanted to have Peter Parker cupcakes so we went with a superhero theme this year.  We started off coloring superheroes and putting on superhero tattoos while we waited for all the guests to arrive. 

 

After that we started our superhero boot camp.  First they had to go through an obstacle course while saving a baby.  That earned them their superhero capes.  Then they had to learn how to fly with their capes so they took turns jumping off the mat into Jeremy's arms and he flew them around the room.  After that they had target practice by throwing balls at different villains- Ursula, Green Goblin, Maleficent, etc.  That task earned them their masks.  Just then the Evil Dr. Jermino and his Sinister Sidekick Shelbster ran in and stole one of Joey's presents.  The kids then had to chase them down and "catch" them with their webs (silly string). 

 

 

 

Then it was on to pizza and sandwiches, cupcakes, and ice cream.  Present time is always chaotic with little kids.  I love that they get so excited to give each other presents though.  Just as we were about to wrap things up we realized we had forgotten to do the pinata.  Duh!  So Jeremy just grabbed and tore into it and dumped the candy on the floor.  Nice.  I don't think the kids cared too much- they were going to get the candy either way!

   

 

 

 

All-in-all it was a great party. So thankful Joey's friends could come out and celebrate with her.

3 Months

Lucy is 3 months old today!  Ahhh...why does time have to go by so quickly?  I put up all of the 0-3 month clothes the other day.  She didn't wear 95% of them.

Lucy really is a good baby and the best little sister.  She takes lots of abuse (the girls are constantly in her face or trying to hold/hug/kiss her) from Shelby and Joey but she just smiles at them.  She is pretty good during the day when I am working.  We pretty much have our routine down of nurse, nap, play.  She is still sleeping in our room.  I was going to move her to her crib this week, but she and I both have colds so I kept her in my room because she has been pretty congested and the coughing throughout the night has been waking her up.



Tummy time quickly goes from this...

...to this.



The first week back at work went as well as could be expected.  Then on Saturday I was able to get in a good run on the treadmill while I watched conference.  We DVR'd the second session and took the girls on a 2 mile hike.  I was feeling like it was a great week.  And then Sunday happened.  The conference packets I made lasted all of about 5 minutes.  The girls were just NOT listening and not allowing us to listen.  Looking back, we should have just given up, taken the time to do something else- read scriptures and talk about them, play a game together, etc. and then watched conference another time.  Instead we let them get the best of us.  Jeremy laughed because at one point the speaker was talking about making our homes more peaceful just as I was hauling Joey off to time out.  Nice. 

The rest of the week has been particularly stressful for me as well.  I got a promotion at work, which is great.  BUT, I was so comfortable doing what I was doing before.  I could easily nurse a baby, dress a barbie, and do my work all at the same time.  I know that I will get to that point with the new, added job duties, but in the meantime I have really been stressed out about it.  Being sick with this cold and extra tired didn't help.

On top of that, I have been gearing up for Joey's party on Saturday.  I can't believe she will be 3 already.  I have been busy sewing superhero capes and getting all the supplies together.  She is SO excited for her party- she asks us every day if it's her birthday.  I hope she has the best day ever. 

Easter Weekend

What a long weekend!  We spent Thursday and Friday down in New Orleans.  Jeremy made his round of appointments, we ate good food (Joey K's, Superior, Caretta's, snoballs, beignets), took the girls to Audubon Park, I popped in to my office to say hi to everyone, and the girls had fun in the hotel (they are obsessed with hotels!). 

Friday afternoon we headed up to Hattiesburg.  Jeremy took Shelby and Joey for the night while I spent the evening with 28 of his female family members for the Gore Girls Night Out.  Lucy was oblivious to all the craziness going on.  As soon as I got back to the hotel (at 1:30 am), I told Jeremy his family was insane, but I meant it in the nicest way possible!  Haha!  Really, I had a great time and it was fun to catch up with everyone. 

 

 

Saturday we had the annual Gore Family Reunion.  It is pretty neat/great that they do this every year without question.  The weather was perfect and we had a great time eating, visiting, and the girls had fun on the egg hunt. 

 

 

 



 

While in Hattiesburg we stayed at a hotel because Jeremy's grandfather's house is still being fixed from the tornado that hit.  No worries though- the Easter Bunny still found the girls.  (Just a side note: I am probably the meanest mom.  I had a talk with the EB and told him not to bring a ton of candy.  The girls literally got 4 pieces of candy each.  I just don't think excessive amounts of candy are necessary, especially since they had already been to two egg hunts.)

 

 

 

After that we headed home.  We stopped in Bastrop on the way home and ate lunch with Jeremy's dad and grandmother at the nursing home, and then we went over to see his grandfather at the rehabilitation facility.  Of course it started pouring rain right before we went into the nursing home, so we had to make a run for it and I didn't grab my camera.  I think Jeremy has some pictures on his phone. 

 

We finally made it home around 9:30 last night.  I had to hurry and unpack stuff and try to get things in order because I started back at work today.  Fastest 10 weeks ever!!  Today went pretty well, I just hope things continue to go as smoothly!  (More on work stuff another time.)